Clemens never threw a no-hitter.

Pedro Martinez never threw a no-hitter, although he threw a Haddix.

Maddux too.

So, now that Felix has been removed from contention, who is the best ever pitcher to never throw a no-hitter?

I imagine Maddux or Clemens tops the list of all timers.

Active pitchers, Chris Carpenter has never thrown a no hitter. (he's not active this year but still).

For active pitchers, I'd have to go with Sabathia, even before today.

Sid Fernandez is the pitcher with the lowest BA against (min. 200 starts) who never threw a no-hitter.

The leaders in BAA are whom you'd expect. Batters hit .204 off Nolan Ryan, and .205 off Sandy Koufax. Then there's Sid, third place at .206 and no no-nos to show.

But that's what he gets for playing for the Mets.

Active, the players with the lowest BA against are Cain (yep), Santana (yep), Verlander (yep), and Peavy (No?)

Somewhat surprisingly, Barry Zito's BA against is the same as Felix's in over 150 more starts. He hasn't thrown one eiter.

if cc hadn't fielded that dribbler from andy laroche with a la de da approach he would have a no hitter in pittsburgh

Insofar as there's an underlying cause, I'd bet it's strikeout rate.

That and random chance pretty much sum up my POV. And I totally agree with Harvey in his wish for more contact hitting.

there is no way this [Galarraga's game] will be remembered. None. The blown call aspect(even as the 27th out), for me, just doesn't have the unique identity that the Haddix 12+ inning perfecto or Shore's pick off, then 26 guys up and 26 guys down scenario has. That's why they are remembered.



Um, no. Given that there's full video of it, a book about it co-authored by the principals involved, and its having an even simpler narrative hook than the Haddix or Shore games, it will be remembered.

Ken Burns is also on record as saying it's what will start his "11th Inning" of Baseball when he gets around to it in a decade or two.

No Hitters, by season
(From 1918 to 2012, Team Won, (requiring H=0 and IPouts>=27), sorted by greatest Performances matching selected criteria in a Season)

                   
Rk   Year #Matching
1    1991         7
1    1990         7
                   
3    1969         6
                   
4    2012         5
4    2010         5
4    1973         5
4    1968         5
4    1962         5
                   
9    1976         4
9    1970         4
9    1951         4
                   
12   2011         3
12   2007         3
12   2001         3
12   1999         3
12   1996         3
12   1994         3
12   1993         3
12   1983         3
12   1981         3
12   1977         3
12   1975         3
12   1974         3
12   1972         3
12   1971         3
Rk   Year #Matching
12   1967         3
12   1965         3
12   1963         3
12   1960         3
12   1956         3
12   1952         3
12   1947         3
12   1938         3

So, 5 no-hitters doesn't seem that weird but obviously 3 perfectos is. What are the average number of BB / ROE as a function of time? Or put another way, if BB/ROE were distributed randomly in no-hitters, what rate of perfect games would you expect (hey a t-test could be done too).

It seems impossible that the number of BBs has decreased historically, but I think the number of errors has - although not so recently.

And harveys - was that a J. Edgar reference?

Regular season perfect games

                   
Rk   Year #Matching
1    2012         3

2    2010         2
                   
3    2009         1
3    2004         1
3    1999         1
3    1998         1
3    1994         1
3    1991         1
3    1988         1
3    1984         1
3    1981         1
3    1968         1
3    1965         1
3    1964         1
3    1922         1

Going through the BBRef leaderboards:
(At least 10 seasons pitching, starters only)

WAR
All-time: Roger Clemens
Active: Andy Pettitte

ERA
All-time: Mordecai Brown
Active: Tim Hudson

Wins
All-time: Pete Alexander
Active: Jamie Moyer

IP
All-time: Don Sutton
Active: Jamie Moyer

Strikeouts
All-time: Steve Carlton
Active: Jamie Moyer

WHIP
All-time: Pedro Martinez
Active: Jake Peavy

[46] there is no way this will be remembered. None. The blown call aspect(even as the 27th out), for me, just doesn't have the unique identity that the Haddix 12+ inning perfecto or Shore's pick off, then 26 guys up and 26 guys down scenario has. That's why they are remembered.

From wikipedia:

Perfect games spoiled by the 27th batter

On ten occasions in Major League Baseball history, a perfect game has been spoiled when the batter representing what would have been the third and final out in the ninth inning reached base.

Unless otherwise noted, the pitcher in question finished and won the game without allowing any more baserunners:

* On July 4, 1908, Hooks Wiltse of the New York Giants hit Philadelphia Phillies pitcher George McQuillan with a pitch on a 2–2 count in a scoreless game—the only time a 0–0 perfect game has been broken
up by the 27th batter. Umpire Cy Rigler later admitted that he should have called the previous pitch strike 3. Wiltse pitched on, winning 1–0; his ten-inning no-hitter set a record for longest
complete game no-hitter that has been tied twice but never broken.
* On August 5, 1932, Tommy Bridges of the Detroit Tigers gave up a pinch-hit single to the Washington Senators' Dave Harris.
* On June 27, 1958, Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox gave up a double, which landed just inches in fair territory, on his first pitch to Senators pinch hitter Ed Fitz Gerald.
* On September 2, 1972, Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs walked San Diego Padres pinch hitter Larry Stahl on a borderline 3–2 pitch. Pappas finished with a no-hitter. The umpire, Bruce Froemming, was in
his second year; he went on to a 37-year career in which he umpired a record 11 no-hitters. Pappas believed he had struck out Stahl, and years later continued to bear ill will toward Froemming.
* On April 15, 1983, Milt Wilcox of the Tigers surrendered a pinch-hit single to the White Sox' Jerry Hairston, Sr.
* On May 2, 1988, Ron Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds gave up a single to the Montreal Expos' Wallace Johnson. Robinson then allowed a two-run homer to Tim Raines and was removed from the game. The final
score was 3–2, with Robinson the winner. (Robinson's teammate Tom Browning threw his perfect game later that season.)
* On August 4, 1989, Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays gave up a double to the New York Yankees' Roberto Kelly, followed by an RBI single by Steve Sax. Stieb finished with a 2–1 victory. This was the
* third time Stieb had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the ninth inning.
* On April 20, 1990, Brian Holman of the Seattle Mariners gave up a home run to Ken Phelps of the Oakland Athletics.
* On September 2, 2001, Mike Mussina of the Yankees gave up a two-strike single to Boston Red Sox pinch hitter Carl Everett. The opposing pitcher in the game was David Cone, who had thrown the most
recent perfect game two years earlier as a Yankee. ...
* On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga of the Tigers was charged with a single when first-base umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly ruled Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians safe on an infield grounder. After
the game, Joyce acknowledged his mistake

[Emphasis added]

Also noteworthy:

Nine or more consecutive innings of perfection

There have been fourteen occasions in Major League Baseball history when a pitcher—or, in one case, multiple pitchers—recorded at least 27 consecutive outs after one or more runners reached base. In four instances, the game went into extra innings and the pitcher(s) recorded more than 27 consecutive outs ...

In the ten other instances, the leadoff batter (or batters) reached base in the first inning, followed by 27 consecutive batters (or batters and baserunners) being retired through the end of a nine-inning game. In one case, the leadoff baserunner was retired, meaning the pitcher faced the minimum:

* On June 30, 1908, Red Sox pitcher Cy Young walked the New York Highlanders' leadoff batter, Harry Niles, who was caught stealing. No one else reached base against Young, who also had three hits and four RBIs in Boston's 8–0 win. It was the third no-hitter of Young's career and about as close as possible to being his second perfect game. He is the only pitcher in major league history to retire 27 consecutive men in a game on two separate occasions. ...

In Major League Baseball play since 1893, with the essential modern rules in place, there have been eight instances when a pitcher allowed not a single baserunner through his pitching efforts over a complete game of at least nine innings, but was not awarded a perfect game because of fielding errors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_game

Took a while but the Haddix and Pedro examples were raised. Obviously from a probability perspective, those count as 9-inning perfect games.

One could further argue that you'd really need to look for all instances where a pitcher (or at least a starter) threw 9 consecutive perfect innings across games to see if that rate has really changed. It's possible that happens at the same rate it always has and it is just blind luck that this year 3 of those instances have been 9 consecutive in one game. (Note, I'm still not 100% sure I've got that phrased right but you get my point.)

But the number of teams thing (and expanded schedule compared to pre-expansion) makes those numbers seem not quite so bizarre. Three in one year is certainly quite unlikely but 2 in 2010 doesn't look particularly odd given 30 teams vs. 26/24 vs. 16 (and 154 games).

But yeah, I'm starting to wonder what you folks have done to this game with your 6 foot high strike zones and 5-foot high mounds.

Petite isn't/wasn't as good a pitcher as Sabathia/Hernandez, AND he toiled in front of a fairly poor defense for many years with the Yanks. I'd argue that Sabathia and Hernandez are close enough to equally good as makes no never mind. (Sabathia's most similar pitcher through age 25: Dennis Eckersley. Hernandez's most similar through age 26: Eckersley.)

Three in one year is certainly quite unlikely but 2 in 2010 doesn't look particularly odd given 30 teams vs. 26/24 vs. 16 (and 154 games).

Three in one year could be a blip. Two in one year wouldn't even be worth talking about. But we've also now got five in (less than) three years, and six in four years (not counting Galarraga). Throughout the entire 20th century, the record for a four-year span was two.

On May 2, 1988, Ron Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds gave up a single to the Montreal Expos' Wallace Johnson.

I was at this game. I will certainly always remember it.

wouldnt a bigger data set be one hitters? If you saw substantial rise in them in the last decade it would have more statistical validity.